III. Background

The Judiciary's Disreputable Past

When President Chvez became president in 1999, he inherited
a judiciary that had been plagued for years by influence-peddling, political
interference, and, above all, corruption.In interviews with Human Rights Watch, lawyers from across the political
spectrum described a system in which justice had often been for sale to the
highest bidder.Attorney General Isaas
Rodrguez recalled how the country's top administrative court in the past
actually established set fees for resolving different kinds of cases.[12]

A 1996 report on the Venezuelan justice system by the
Lawyer's Committee for Human Rights painted a grim portrait of the judiciary:

Rather than serving the constitutional role of defender
of the rule of law and protector of the human rights of Venezuelan citizens
against the government, the courts had often become highly politicized adjuncts
of the parties. They were manipulated by groups of lawyers, judges, political
and business actors for private economic gain. And court procedures had become
so slow, cumbersome and unreliable that disputants avoided them at all costs.[13]

In terms of public credibility, the system was
bankrupt.A 1998 survey by the United
Nations Development Program found that only 0.8 percent of the population had
confidence in the judiciary.[14]That distrust translated into public outrage,
and in the presidential election of that year, candidates across the political
spectrum-including Hugo Chvez Fras-promised to clean up the system.

Declaring a Judicial Emergency

Once in office, President Chvez launched an ambitious
effort to reform the Venezuelan state that included holding a referendum to
convene a National Constituent Assembly, which then drafted a new constitution
that went into effect in December 1999. Due to the overwhelming public
consensus that judicial reform was needed, the Chvez administration initially
found support for its efforts in this area even among its political
adversaries.

One of the first acts of the National Constituent Assembly
was to declare that the judiciary was in a state of emergency.It suspended the tenure of judges and created
an emergency commission which it empowered to suspend judges who faced seven or
more complaints or any type of criminal investigation, or who showed signs of
wealth incommensurate with their salaried income.In the following months, the emergency
commission removed hundreds of judges from their posts.[15]

Political Polarization under Chvez

The consensus around judicial reforms has largely dissolved
as the country has grown increasingly polarized in response to President
Chvez's policies and style of governance.Over the past three years the mounting political tensions have erupted
into violence on several occasions and there have been three concerted efforts
by sectors of the opposition to remove President Chvez from office: an aborted
coup d'tat in April 2002, a national strike that lasted from December 2002
through February 2003 (and had an enormously negative impact on the country's
economy), and a petition drive held in December 2003 to authorize a
referendum.

The polarization, which pervades Venezuelan society, has
found its way into the Supreme Court as well.All twenty sitting justices were selected by the National Constituent
Assembly in March 2000 through a 2/3 majority vote, which would suggest they
had support from people across the political spectrum.Today, however, it is common wisdom within
the legal community that the Court is deeply divided between opponents and
allies of President Chvez.It is an
even, ten-ten split, with each camp controlling some of the Court's six
chambers.The opposition camp is said to
have a majority of seats in the electoral chamber.The pro-Chvez camp has a majority in the
constitutional chamber, as well as on the six-member Judicial Commission that
handles many of the Court's administrative affairs.Supreme Court President Ivan Rincn Urdaneta,
who is a member of both the constitutional chamber and the Judicial Commission,
is viewed as an ally of President Chvez.

[13]"Halfway
to Reform: The World Bank and the Venezuelan Justice System,"A Joint Report by The Lawyers
Committee for Human Rights and The Venezuelan Program for Human Rights
Education and Action," 1996, available at http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/pubs/descriptions/halfway.htm.